I'm not good enough to go to a milonga...

11 Dec 2018 - by Graham

This is something I hear from new tango dancers all the time. I tell them about our monthly milongas and the smaller practilongas to see if they are going to come along and practise what they have been learning for the last few weeks, and the most common thing I hear back is "Oh, we're not good enough for a milonga yet. We'll need a lot more lessons before we're ready to come to one of those."

But aren't milongas - tango social dances and freestyle evenings - the whole point of learning? I do understand that maybe week one or two might not be the time to attend your first milonga, but don't you come to classes to learn how to dance with other people in a social environment? And if you do, what invisible line do you think you need to cross before you can make the jump into dancing at a milonga? How good do you think you need to be before you can go?

There seems to be a belief amongst tango newcomers that milongas are for experienced dancers only, and that if you turn up only knowing how to walk a bit and can maybe pull off an ocho if your leader mutters "ocho!" in your ear at the right moment you will be completely out of your depth. That may well turn out to be the case if you decide to dance with a leader who insists on trying out every move he ever learned, or a follower that adds embellishments on every step regardless of the lead, but there are a few ways to avoid that.

Firstly, many experienced leaders and followers are more than happy to dance with beginners, and know how to pay attention to their partner's dancing needs. They remember what it was like when they first started, and are keen to pass on the passion for the dance that has hooked them into tango for so long. Look for those people on the dance floor and ask them for a dance, or if you don't know them and don't want to approach them directly then talk to the organiser before you go and see if they will introduce you to anyone who will look after you.

Alternatively, you can go to a milonga where you know there will be other beginners and dance with them to get you going. You could arrange to go with other beginners from your class, or pick a milonga based on its reputation for being beginner-friendly, but either way you will know that there will be people there who you will be comfortable with, and that you won't be the only person in the room to get cold sweats at the thought of a 'hero'*.

But why is it so important? What is wrong with waiting until you feel 'ready' to go to your first milonga? Why do you need to find ways to make that jump when it may well just happen naturally after a few weeks... or months... or years?

Classes teach you how to dance steps and sequences, but by their very nature they don't do a very good job of teaching you how to cope with improvising your way around the dance floor for a whole piece of music. You only learn that by trying it out yourself, without the structure of working through this week's set routine and with the freedom of being able to use anything you can remember. You start small with the things then add in new stuff as you get more confident. But that works best when you do it out of a class environment, and that's where milongas come in.

So take the plunge. Go to a milonga. Learn by watching the other dancers and try out anything you can remember from your classes, however many - or few - classes you've been to.

It's the best way to learn!

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*You won't be the first person to think that 'giro' is spelled like that either!